AEROPHONES

 

Aerophones produce sound when the column of air inside is vibrated. Holes, valves, or slides control the length of the air column, and raise or lower the musical pitch accordingly.

This class of instruments includes simple end-blown flutes (like the ney, the sipsi, and the kaval), transverse-blown flutes (the modern Boehm flute, Irish flute, and others but none in Turkish folk music), reed flutes  (the single reed clarinet, the double-reed mey and zurna), and the entire orchestral brass family (here too, none are used in Turkish folk music).

(Click on each photo for a short video of how that instrument is played and sounds.)

End-blown flutes

The NEY

The ney is an end-blown flute with origins in the reed beds of Arab rivers like the Tigris, the Euphrates and the Nile. It is used in Arab, Turkish, Persian and other classical, religious and folk musics. It has a soft, breathy quality, requires considerable skill to blow correctly, and with partial-hole fingerings is capable of producing the quarter-tones or even finer intonations needed in those regional musics.

 

 

 

The KAVAL

The kaval is a chromatic end-blown flute traditionally played throughout the Balkans and Turkey, and is primarily associated with mountain shepherds.

Unlike the transverse flute, the kaval is fully open at both ends, and is played by blowing on the sharpened edge of one end.

 

The ÇİFTE (also called Argun, Argul, Kargin, or Zambir) (pending)

Double reed woodwinds

The MEY

One of the most beautiful “flutes” in Turkish folk music, the mey‘s dark, earthy sound balances the plucked and strummed saz section of a typical Turkish folk music ensemble, or stands on its own in concert settings as as a solo instrument.

 

 

The ZURNA

The zurna is a wind instrument played in central Eurasia, ranging from the Balkans to Central Asia. It is usually accompanied by a davul (bass drum) in Anatolian folk music. The zurna, like the duduk and kaval, is a woodwind instrument used to play Anatolian, Middle Eastern and Central Asian folk music. The zurna is a conical oboe, often made from the apricot tree, and uses a double reed which generates a sharp, piercing sound. It has historically been played outdoors during festive events such as weddings and holidays.

 

Single reed woodwinds

The SIPSI

The sipsi [sipˈsi] is a clarinet-like, single-reed instrument used mainly in folk music. In provincial Turkish, “sipsi” is the word for a small whistle (like a bosun’s pipe), and secondly for the reed of a musical instrument.

 

The SOPRANO SAX

While traditional instruments still rule in Turkish folk music, some groups –like Yediveren (Timeless)– realize that a younger audience raised on Turkish pop/rock may open up to folk music as well if a few modern touches are added. In Istanbul I Have A Love (Istanbul’da Bir Yarim Var) uses the soprano sax to bring home the loss felt by the young woman whose story is being told.

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Enclosed reed aerophones

The TULUM

The tulum is a droneless bagpipe with two parallel chanters, and is usually played by the Laz and Hamsheni peoples, and by Pontic (Black Sea) Greeks (particularly Chaldeans). It is a prominent instrument in the music of Pazar, Hemşin, Çamlıhemşin, Ardeşen, Fındıklı, Arhavi, and Hopa villages, some other districts of Artvin, and in the villages of the Tatos range (the watershed between the provinces of Rize and Trabzon) of the İspir district of Erzurum Province. It is the traditional instrument of the transhumant (seasonal migrant) population of the north-eastern provinces of Anatolia. Like the kemençe in its area, the tulum imposes its style on all the dance and entertainment music of those for whom it is “our music”.

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